Syrian President May Have Approved Gas Attack In Idlib

The council will meet at Russia´s request at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) to hear the briefing as Syrian forces, backed by Russian Federation and Iran, are preparing for an all-out military assault on the rebel-held province.

On Monday, a top United Nations humanitarian official, Mark Lowcock, said that unless some way of "dealing with this problem" was found, what is about to transpire in Idlib could descend into "the worst humanitarian catastrophe, with the biggest loss of life of the 21st century".

Rebel sources said Turkey had pledged to take strong measures against the jihadists once Russian Federation holds back the Syrian army from waging a major assault.

"I also want to reiterate what I said last week to the Assad regime and anyone else contemplating the use of chemical weapons in Syria", Haley added.

That's right, unnamed United States officials are now claiming to be in possession of intelligence which they say shows Assad has already given the order in an absolutely unprecedented level of "pre-crime" telegraphing of events on the battlefield. "We stand by this warning".

And in two instances, this has prompted US -led punitive military strikes.

Damascus and Moscow have warned that the U.S., along with Britain and France, is gearing up for a new military attack against Syria as the army prepares for the liberation of Idlib.

While the worldwide community continued warning against the use of chemical weapons, civilians baring the brunt of airstrikes and barrel bombs were left perplexed.

When asked what the US has done to prevent their use, Mattis referred to US, UK and French strikes on Syria after a chemical weapons attack in April.

Trump himself warned early last week that an attack by Assad on Idlib would make the U.S. "The first time around he lost 17% of his pointy-nosed air force airplanes".

"We've been hearing the regime and Russian Federation threaten to bomb us with chemical weapons", said Hadheefa al-Shahhad.

"It is absolutely essential to avoid a full-scale battle in Idlib", Guterres said on Tuesday. "It must not be transformed into a bloodbath".

But half the people here have already fled from other parts of Syria and they have nowhere left to go.

"We can not allow terrorists to hold hostage and use hundreds of thousands of people of Idlib as human shields", said the Russian ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia.

Russian Federation is due to brief the United Nations Security Council later Tuesday about the results of the Tehran summit it held with Iran and Turkey on the fate of Syria's Idlib province.

CNN reported last week that United States officials have grown anxious that an assault on Idlib could involve the use of chemical weapons if the rebels are able to slow regime advances. The US is concerned they could eventually be used to launch another chemical attack as well as a conventional assault. President Tayyip Erdogan has warned of a humanitarian disaster and security risks for Turkey.

Haley said the failed summit was another indication that Russia, Iran and the Assad regime are not interested in a political solution, telling the council that those parties have "had every opportunity to demonstrate their credibility as constructive actors in Syria".

He called for a "comprehensive global counter-terrorism operation" and said that the assistance of pro-Ankara moderate fighters will be "crucial" in Idlib.

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